Springfield Armor fall to Bakersfield, 118-101

Mark M. MurraySpringfield's Scottie Reynolds drives past Bakersfield's Drew Naymick in the first quarter of the Jam's win Saturday afternoon at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.

By JAY KING

SPRINGFIELD – It was the third quarter, and the Springfield Armor had jumped back from a seven-point deficit to draw even and pull a four-game winning streak within sight. But those hopes would soon vanish.

Springfield’s offense stagnated, and its defense allowed a parade of slam dunks. The longest win streak in Armor franchise history was snapped, and the Bakersfield Jam ran away with a 118-101 win Saturday afternoon at the MassMutual Center.

“Just blame our lack of discipline on the offensive and defensive ends,” said Armor coach Dee Brown. “We haven’t had this many lapses – and for the whole game. We just saw a bunch of holes pop back up.

“I told our guys, you have to have the same mindset when you win and the same mindset when you lose. Understand the positive things you did, and understand the negative things you can’t keep doing over and over again. And that’s what we did. This afternoon, we looked like a bad defensive team.”

Springfield played without starters L.D. Williams (broken nose) and Chas McFarland (sprained ankle), but Brown wouldn’t use their absence as an excuse.

“It was kind of a makeshift lineup, but that’s how this league is. So you don’t make excuses for that,” said Brown. “We just have to do a better job of containing their offense off the dribble. That was one of our keys, and we didn’t do that at all.”

Poor defensive rotations allowed Bakersfield to find easy looks all game, and the Jam shot 55.3 percent for the game. The Armor expected Trey Johnson, Bakersfield’s star and the D-League’s leading scorer, to score buckets. And he did, pouring in 22 points with a complete offensive repertoire. But even when Johnson was kept in check, his teammates hurt Springfield.

“Trey had 38 points last night, so he had a down game today – he only had 22,” Brown said half-jokingly. “It was (Marqus) Blakely that come off the bench and had three or four dunks, Jeremy Wise who got them into a flow early in the game. Our scheme was to take the ball out of Trey’s hands and make other players make plays. But the rest of our team defense didn’t step up.”

Blakely finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Wise took advantage of numerous open looks to register 19 points.

Craig Brackins led the Armor with 27 points and 14 rebounds, but shot only 2-for-11 from the field during a frustrating first half. His teammate Jerry Smith added 24 points off the bench, using open-court explosiveness to beat Bakersfield in transition. Scottie Reynolds scored 13 points on only three field goal attempts, and added nine assists.

The Armor failed to execute on either end of the floor. But even the ugly loss couldn’t take away all of Springfield’s growing confidence.

“We’ll work on it,” Smith said. “We’ve won four of our last six games. We’ve got a good rhythm, and we just have to keep on working. I think we’re right where we want to be.”